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820 North Arlington Heights Road

Arlington Heights, IL 60004

It all started with a weekend getaway to the quaint, Lake Michigan shore town of Saugatuck, MI. Saugatuck has a special place in Robby's heart, as his family has been coming here every summer since he was a baby. After arriving late Friday night to their bed & breakfast, Robby and Desiree got up early on Saturday, September 8th (no small feat for Dez!) and walked around downtown Saugatuck. After visiting numerous "trinkets and trash" shops, antiques stores, and art galleries, where we purchased his and hers oil paintings (adorable?! ridiculous?!), we split a delicious pizza and craft beers at a local brewpub and enjoyed the Michigan football victory over WMU.

After walking off the pizza and beer, Robby played his violin for Desiree for the very first time! Desiree was ecstatic, as she had been waiting for this moment for the ENTIRETY of their relationship. She (of course) took pictures--little did she know it would be her engagement story! After serenading Desiree with a private concert in a beautiful, waterside gazebo, Robby proposed most unexpectedly by asking Desiree to hand him a rosin box from the front pocket of his violin case, which turned out to be a ring box! Robby got down on one knee and, unfortunately for Robby, Desiree has NO IDEA what a rosin box looked like; she thought he was tying his shoe.

Soooo, she nonchalantly handed him the "rosin box" and turned around to walk back to her seat in the gazebo. It was not until Robby asked her to turn around and said, "Dez, will you marry me?" that she realized it was a proposal and exclaimed, "Is this really happening?! Is this real life?! OF COURSE I WILL MARRY YOU!!" She grabbed his face and kissed him. It was perfect and magical!